New Life
by ErzaDreyar
Summary: A one-shot dedicated to anyone who has ever been afraid of starting a new chapter in their life.


I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

**Special Author's Note: I'M BACK!**

This is an update to let you all know that I will be returning very soon with new updates on all my stories. Thank you so much for those of you who have been patient and I apologize for not responding to some of your PMs in a timely fashion.

I honestly don't know if the one-shot below will even make any sense. It is very personal to me and kind of explains my frame of mind for the summer. I felt like I needed to write this so that I could move on and move back to my other stories.

I hope you enjoy it and thank you to all my fans who have sent me well wishes. Your words really helped me this summer in more ways than one. I love you all so much and I have found a muse, so to speak, that has helped me to want to write again.

Thank you again and…..next update…will be…_Gods, Dragons, and Stars_.

See you guys soon! xD

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><p>"Hey are you ok?" a young man with spikey pink hair and onyx eyes asked.<p>

"I'm fine," I replied coldly as I wiped away the tears from my eyes; unsure as to why I was even crying again.

"You sure don't look ok," the pink haired man asked as he took a seat next to me on the bench at the train station.

"I said I was fine!" I barked out a little more harshly.

My body flinched by instinct when he sighed and put his hands behind his head as he stared at the train platform in front of us. If he noticed my sudden movement he didn't say anything instead I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and he seemed content by just sitting next to me.

The silence was broken when he asked me, "So where are you going?"

I gave him a dirty look because I hated talking to strangers—especially nosey ones. "That's none of your business!" I growled out at him.

He just gave a slight smirk and kept talking like my coldness did absolutely nothing to him, "Well Happy and I are going to see the world!"

I gave him a blank expression and blinked a few times as I stared at his dumb, happy facial expression before I asked, "Who is Happy?"

"Happy is my cat you idiot!" the young man said with a smile as he pointed to the small pet taxi that contained a small cat with almost a blue-tinged fur.

Normally I would have noticed something like that, but with everything happening in my life lately I wasn't as observant as usual. Everything hurt. Talking, waking up, cooking, reading, and even writing hurt. Everything was painful and it felt like there was never going to be an end to the pain.

"You aren't very observant are you?" the young man said cheekily with an irritating grin on his face.

"What the hell do you know!? I'm very smart and very observant! Excuse me if I didn't notice something for once in my life! I do have things on my mind you know!?" I practically shouted at him on the bench.

He just arched his eyebrow at me a little and said calmly, "Well why don't you tell me about it?"

"What!?" I asked in shock, "Tell you what?"

"Tell me about your problems. What has you so stressed out?" He asked with a calm expression.

I looked at him in disbelief. No one I know has been there for me…why would this man…this stranger care?

His onyx eyes met mine and they were filled with such concern that tears involuntarily began to fall down my cheeks again.

I pulled away from his eye contact. It was the first time someone had actually looked at me…at me…in months—no…years. It made my heart race in excitement, but I knew I shouldn't get my hopes up. People were cruel, the world was harsh, and people betrayed you. That was the truth about life. Some stranger I randomly met wouldn't give a damn about me or how I actually felt.

I wiped away some of my tears and tried to ask, "But I don't even know you…a-and w-why w-would you c-c-care…"

He let out a slight sigh and said with an almost soothing voice, "Happy and I came over to sit by you because you seemed really nice and like you needed a friend."

Our eyes met again. I felt like I could get lost in his eyes. They were so warm and inviting, but it would be dangerous to give into him. No one in my real life for the past few months cared about my feelings or what I was going through…

"So who was the dick head that did this to you?" he suddenly asked.

I blinked a few times before I asked, "W-what are you talking about?"

He turned his head to look at me better before he said, "Only a shitty bastard would make someone as pretty as you cry alone."

I could feel my cheeks turn red which seemed to amuse him even more. A grin started to appear on his face and he said smugly, "You are so easy to read."

I looked back at him in shock and replied, "No one has ever said that to me before. Everyone I know thinks I'm a hard-ass bitch."

The pink haired man looked at me and blinked in shock before he busted out laughing and said, "Well I don't know how hard and awesome your ass is because you are sitting on it, but you don't seem like a bitch to me."

I shot him another cold look for the crack he made about my ass but decided to let it go as I asked, "Why don't I seem like a bitch?"

The man paused for a moment as though he were deep in thought, then shrugged his shoulders and replied calmly with, "You just seem like you have had a hard time that is all. I know a few bitches…you are not one. There is this red head I know with a violent-ass temper…now she is a bitch."

"HOW WOULD YOU EVEN KNOW!?" I shouted next to him slightly annoyed that I was even letting him get under my skin this way. He didn't know me. Why would he say these things?

He just looked at me and smiled before he said, "Then prove me wrong. Why are you crying? You've cried twice now in the brief 30 minutes of me knowing you. You seem like a softy, but you don't at the same time. You are sitting alone at a train station with one bag and you aren't, or weren't, sitting around anyone else until I walked up. You purposely distanced yourself from the rest of the passengers."

I looked at him in disbelief. Most people weren't very observant. It was just a fact of life. Most people were only concerned about themselves or what they could get out of something or someone. How could he guess all of this in such a short amount of time?

"But that is not all," the young man added, "your eyes…they are full of pain and sadness. I don't know why, but I just know that I want to be here for you, so please tell me what is wrong."

His words were so honest and so painful to hear at the same time. Then against all rational thought that I thought I had, I looked at him with tear filled eyes and vomited out everything that I had been through the past few months, the past six years, and everything I had been keeping pent up inside of me.

I told him everything. I told him about how I felt like I wasted my youth on a man that didn't love me. How my family was cold and distant and didn't support me. I told him about how I had literally next to nothing and how I felt like my dreams were vanishing before my eyes. I told him how I felt old, unattractive, and unloved. And I cried…I cried until I could no longer verbalize my feelings. I cried because it was the first time in a long time where I felt like it was ok to not be perfect for once. I felt like he cared. I felt safe. I never felt safe. All I have felt for the past six years was fear and coldness. This man next to me…he wasn't cold…he was warm and kind.

After thirty minutes of venting, the young man next to me just kept the same calm face. He looked at me and asked, "Is that all?"

I wasn't really sure what he was trying to ask. Was he upset that I rambled on for half an hour? Was he disgusted by how weak and vulnerable I was? Instead I just nodded my head to signal that I was done.

The young man sighed heavily which made my body cringe. My past experiences taught me that it wasn't good when someone sighed that heavily. However, he surprised me when he leaned back further onto the bench closer to me and said slightly exasperated, "Sounds like you had it pretty rough."

I just blinked at him a few times in disbelief. Was that really all he had to say? Why in the hell would he even ask me what was wrong if that was all he was going to say?

However the young man broke my growing rage at him when he suddenly asked, "So what are you going to do now?"

I was caught off guard by the question, but he just continued without even waiting for my response, "You just seem like you have carried a lot on your shoulders and that you are really angry at everything."

My defenses kicked in and I raised my voice at him, "Of course I am angry at everything. I am 27 fucking years old and have nothing to show for it. I have a shitty job, my family hates me, my ex was a lazy ass that didn't give a damn about me, and I have nothing and no one. I have a degree but it still isn't good enough. I feel old and ugly and useless and I feel like if I suddenly vanished off of the planet then no one would even care or notice."

"That's not true," the young man replied quickly.

"And how would you know!?" I yelled back.

"Because I'm sitting here next to you. You are not old. You are beautiful. Your family is stupid if they don't see how awesome you are and your ex was a dick. He doesn't deserve you," he replied calmly.

"What would you know about it?" I asked quietly. How could he have said exactly what I needed to hear? I've waited so long for someone to say that.

"I won't say I know what you are going through, but I will say I think you try and take on too much. You don't have to be perfect all the time," he stated calmly but firmly.

"I never said I was perfect," I replied quickly.

The corners of his mouth turned up into a slight grin as he replied, "No you didn't, but it is pretty obvious that you expect yourself to be. Why don't you ask for help for once?"

"Who?" I asked loudly, "Who would I ask for help? Have you not listened to a word I have said?"

"Oh I heard plenty," he replied before he added, "but if you close yourself off then you won't be able to recognize when someone is trying to help you."

"I don't see why anyone would want to try and help me," I said quietly.

His onyx eyes pierced mine and he said seriously, "Because it is pretty obvious that you deserve far better than what you have been given. You don't deserve what happened to you. You didn't deserve to be forced into a relationship you weren't ready for or to have your family not back you. But if you don't stop trying to fix everything yourself then you will just wear yourself out more."

It was official—this man was absolutely annoying. All I could do was look at him in disbelief as tears started to flow down my eyes again. Then after a few moments of my sobbing silence I whispered out, "But what if I get hurt again? What if I'm not strong enough?" The thought of not being strong enough sent a sharp dagger straight through my heart. Having to rely on someone or not being good enough was one of the biggest fears I had. Admitting it out loud to someone surprised me and terrified me at the same time.

The young man looked out towards the train that was now filling with passengers. He reached down and grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder before he replied, "If you fear living then you will miss all the good things that are about to happen to you too."

I took a few deep breaths and watched as he picked up the pet taxi that contained his cat and then admitted quietly, "But I'm scared."

A small smile appeared on his face as he replied, "I think that is a pretty normal feeling, but you won't always be scared. You have been through shit and now the good stuff is about to start. You can start a new life now."

I looked up at the man, this stranger who had seen through me when no one else had and gave him a slight smile of gratitude.

"Wow," he said slightly surprised.

"W-what?" I asked nervously.

"Your smile is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," he said with his mouth agape.

Now it was my turn to let out a sigh as I rolled my eyes and said slightly embarrassed, "Baka."

A wide grin appeared on his face as he jokingly said, "I can be your baka if you like."

"Oh my god," I moaned at his idiocy but couldn't help it when I let out a slight giggle.

Suddenly our conversation was interrupted when the sound of the train's whistle blew throughout the station. My heart sank at the thought of leaving this kind stranger's side. He had been so kind, warm, and he genuinely made me laugh for the first time in months. I don't know why but I felt like if I lost him now then I would regret it for the rest of my life.

The young man turned to me and asked, "So let me ask again…where are you going?"

I looked down at my bag and ticket and finally admitted, "I honestly have no clue."

He let out a slight chuckle before he held out his hand to me and said, "Well what if we found out together?"

I looked at his hand; it was large and I wanted to reach for it so bad. Every fiber in my body screamed at me to lunge at this man, but my mind and past chastised me for being weak or gullible. Could I take this risk?

The train whistled again and the young man said seriously before he started to pull away, "You won't be sad forever."

For the first time in months, no years, I shut my mind off. I didn't want to think about what I could do to please every single person around me besides myself; instead, I looked at the young man who started to walk away and I lunged for his hand. He stopped when my small hand grasped his and he looked down at me with a slightly shocked expression before a large grin spread across his face.

Blush covered my face and I knew I was probably insane for what I was about to do. I had no idea if I would later regret my decision, but something inside of me told me that I wouldn't. Instead I looked up at him and held onto his hand tightly as I asked, "So where are you taking me?"

His fingers laced around mine before he replied, "Anywhere you want to go."

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><p><strong>Please Review!<strong>


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